Thopha saccata, commonly known as the double drummer, is the largest Australian species of cicada and reputedly the loudest insect in the world. Documented by the Danish zoologist Johan Christian Fabricius in 1803, it was the first described and named cicada native to Australia. Its common name comes from the large dark red-brown sac-like pockets that the adult male has on each side of its abdomen—the "double drums"—that are used to amplify the sound it produces. The adult double drummer is the largest Australian species of cicada. Broad-headed compared with other cicadas, the double drummer is mostly brown with a black pattern across the back of its thorax, and has red-brown and black underparts. The sexes are similar in appearance, though the female lacks the male's tymbals and sac-like covers. Found in sclerophyll forest in Queensland and New South Wales, adult double drummers generally perch high in the branches of large eucalypts. They emerge from the ground where they have spent several years as nymphs from November until March, and live for another four to five weeks. They appear in great numbers in some years, yet are absent in others. (Full article...)
... that the four miles of stacks aisles in Harvard's 3.5-million-volume Widener Library are so labyrinthine that one student felt she ought to carry "a compass, a sandwich, and a whistle" when entering?
Fifty-nine companies have been acquired by Apple Inc.(logo pictured), an American multinational corporation with a focus on designing and manufacturing consumer electronics and software products. Apple has also purchased a stake in two companies. Apple's business philosophy is to acquire small companies that can be easily integrated into existing company projects. For example, Apple acquired Emagic and its professional music software, Logic Pro, in 2002. The acquisition led to the creation of the digital audio workstation software GarageBand, now part of the iLife software suite. The company made its first acquisition on March 2, 1988 when it purchased Network Innovations. It has also made five divestments, all in the 1990s, in which parts of the company were sold to another company. The company's largest acquisition was the purchase of Beats Electronics in 2014 for US$3 billion. In 2013, Apple acquired thirteen companies, more than in any other single year thus far. Of the companies that Apple has acquired, 44 were based in the United States. (Full list...)
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